Chiapas: communiqué of the Las Abejas Civil Society

Acteal (@Caracol Azul)

On 22 July, in observance of the monthly commemoration of the December 1997 Acteal massacre, the Las Abejas Civil Society published a new communiqué in which it shares its analysis of the present political moment in Chenalhó and the rest of the country. It says that “while the government of Juan Sabines wastes many millions of dollars of the money of the people in praising his own works such as the Rural Cities as well as the putative justice meted out on his prior friend and now enemy Pablo Salazar Mendiguchía, the reality of the communities in Chiapas is rather different than what they would like us to believe via their media, which are completely controlled by the government.”

He denounced at least three attacks on the vehicle of Marcelo Pérez Pérez, parish-priest of Chenalhó, explaining that “the the intention to hurt Father Marcelo is evident , because he is a priest committed to truth and justice.” Las Abjeas add that “what is happening here in Chenalhó is happening also in other parts of Mexico, against working men and women of justice and dignified peace […]. We say this because not so long ago we learned of the harassment against our priest, friend, and brother Jtotik Raúl Vera, bishop of the diocese of Saltillo, Coahuila.”

They indicated as well the harassment engaged in by the Federal Commission on Electricity (CFE), an “arm of the government in its counter-insurgency plans” in Nuevo Yibeljoj where the electricity of 10 families pertaining to Las Abejas was cut. In this case Las Abejas say “from the government we now know what to expect. What most hurts us, though, is that the brothers with whom we suffered the displacement of 1997 and with whom we shared many years of struggle, now attacks us.” They detail that on 13 July, a member of Las Abejas de Chiapas arrived at the home of José Alfredo Jiménez Pérez (ex-president of the directive table and member of the Civil Society), insulting him, threatening him, and teasing the concept of pacifist resistance.

Las Abejas conclude: “Although the government would like to humiliate our struggle and resistance; although the government in its evil by means of its social programs seeks to break the social fabric of our communities, we will not allow this to happen, because our struggle is connected to the sky and the earth. Our struggle is united with the knowledge of nature. In this construction of peace and justice, we are not the only ones present: there are many in other parts of Mexico and indeed the world who are struggling against the project of death of the neoliberal governments.”

Finally the Society announced that “next 12 August will have passed 2 years since the ‘Supreme Court of Injustice in the Nation’ ordered the release of the paramilitaries who murdered our brothers and sisters in Acteal. With this in mind, on 12 August we will hold a protest in Acteal and a press-conference to denounce this grave impunity and violation of our rights to know the truth as survivors and relatives of the massacred.”